Auld Acquaintance in the Feygrove

Encounters 10-13 of the Madness at Gardmore Abbey

[Despite meeting on November 2nd 2013, we had freakishly good weather and had our first Feygrove session outside in my backyard gazebo, complete with elvish chimes!]

The cleansing of Dragon’s Roost culminating in Sir Oakley’s End took many days, so the Irregulars decided it was time to return to Winterhaven and report back to Lord Padraig on the strength of the Orcs, the discovery of the cause of the collapse of the abbey – and the Paladin’s decision to stay behind.

[DMs Note: Rather than rebuild then entire town, I printed one of the photos from Respite before Chaos to use as a reference map.]

Soon after arriving and stabling their horses and doing errands (such as dropping the shards of the Moonbane at the smithy), they learned that the rival adventuring party has been in town several days, bragging about clearing out the Dragon’s Roost and badmouthing the Irregulars.

They soon learn that the rivals are in the Wrafton’s Inn – where they are supposed to meet Padraig in two hours. The mage slips in invisibly to scout and sees that Leena is waiting at a table near the entrance, seated separately from the rest of the rivals.

Agüero,Nostalgio, and Edryd hatch a plan to distract the rivals, bursting in with great cheer, then the bard strikes up a song to create a distraction.

Quickly Agüero spots Delphina Moongem and tries to make amends for blowing their last date by buying her dinner…

Meanwhile, Shute sneaks around back, where she discovers that Grosh is in the outhouse. She quickly (and quietly) seals him inside, and quickly sneaks in the back door.

Florynsael is still standing invisible near the table, observing Leena – who keeps looking at the door as if expecting someone to arrive.

At the appointed time, the bards song turns to telling the story of the clearing of Dragons’ Roost, and calling the rivals cowards. Leena ignores this, but the other 3 at the table stand just as Shute strikes!

Remembering the humiliation at the hands of the Drow before, Shute leaps from under a nearby table up onto his back, grabs his long white hair in one hand, and slices a foot-length it off!

Just then, there is a huge BOOM and the sound of shattering wood and spraying water coming from out back through the open rear door.

The whole inn bursts into laughter when the orc, covered with latrine storms into the inn.

Padraig arrives, and deciding the timing isn’t right, the rivals (except Leena) shout “This isn’t over!” and head out the back door.

Padraig meets with Shute, Nostalgio, and Edryd to give the briefing. The Orc report is disturbing, as Padraig has only limited resources and can’t muster enough force to overcome the Orcs.

Perhaps the elves they spotted in the old Feygrove may be of assistance? “Leave as soon as you can and see if you can secure a treaty with the elves.”

Meanwhile, Florynsael appears right in front of Leena and sits down. Leena says “I don’t like how my team is acting – perhaps we could work together?”

“Perhaps. But, why should we do that?” Then Leena pulls out a card from the Deck of Many Things – The Key. “We’re looking for these.”

After a few moments thought, Florynsael summons an illusionary image of one of the cards that she is carrying.

Leena looks disappointed and satisfied at the same time: “How many do you have?”

“Just one. How many do you have?” – Florynsael is suspicious.

“Liar, your bard just sang of defeating the Dragon and Cartwright – we know they had at least 5 between them!” spits Leena as she pushes past Florynsael and through the door.

Florynsael quickly recovers and runs outside just in time to see Leena standing in front of all four of her allies.

Leena looks back at her with a look of self-superiority, as she steps between Grosh and Tam, telling them “They have quite a few.”. Tam yells “Go ahead mage, you’ll be dead before you can cast a spell.”

The Irregulars mage steps back into the Inn, fuming to herself “You’re dead, bitch.”

At least Agüero finally got his date with Delphina – she took him to her favorite spot (the grove where she picks flowers to sell) to watch the full moon. The talked through the night – and he was a perfect gentleman – which impressed her.

In the morning they left to return to the Abbey, and to enter the Feygrove through the fallen and overgrown segment of wall…

When they arrive and climb through the overgrowth, they are greeted by a squad of elven warriors, all bearing the crest of a family known to Florynsael – the clan Velfallen.

After an initial order to halt – they quickly recognize something the elf-mage is wearing, and quickly say – “It IS you! Princess Verlune! We we sent to escort you safely into the Feygrove!”

“What? Princess Verlune? She has a last name, and is elf royalty?” – Aquero speaks to no one in particular. “This group is full of secrets!”

As they are escorted into the woods, the soldiers soften their voices and begin to sing a song about the Princess’ family:

They come to a large glade….

They can now make out the elf encampment clearly – tents and banners surround a large ancient fountain. The commander signals the end of the processional song and adds – “It is the Font of Ioun – rumored to show the worthy their future. We leave you now, M’lady.” The guard takes up stations around the glade.

Standing on the rim of the Font is Berrian Velfarren – who sees them approach and shouts “Flory! It IS you! When I heard the song…” Then his demeanor gets a bit more serious as he beckons them closer. “Why are you traveling with this rabble? Humans are bad enough, but a goblin? You are regal, this gutter trash is beneath you!”

The party decides it’s better for Florynsael to handle this negotiation, and stand back while she joins him on the font’s edge.

[Much parley omitted for brevity – buy the module for more details.]

She returns to the group: “Berrian and his sister are here looking for their father, Zandiran – who left the Feywild almost a century ago – abandoning them to their mother, who died not long after. I told him why we’re here, and that we’re willing to help in any way. Problem is that he’s distracted because his sister has been missing for more than a day. So before anything else we’re off looking for her…”

They had a great birds-eye-view of the grove when on the Dragon’s roost, so they use their crude copy of a map they made for Padraig to plan a path to search. Along the way, Nostalgio notices that the forest is “becoming more magical” as they move ahead. Florynsael says “Ley lines – there are two here – one passes through the Font of Ioun, the other crosses ahead – through here… We’re coming to a Fey Crossing!”

Following the leylines, they come to a magical glade…

There are five standing stones surrounding a pool – with water nymphs dancing and playing about. “Fey Crossing?” asks Shute. “It’s where this world merges with the Feywild – where Nostalgio and Florynsael are from”, answers Edryd.

The party approaches the nymphs as Edryd adds – “We’re actually mostly in the Feygrove now. I imagine if you enter that pool, you’ll be completely in that plane.”

“Play with us!” shouts the nymphs. “Play our game! We have secrets to tell!”

A game of secret swapping takes place – they bigger the secret told by one of the party, the bigger secret they learn in return.

Edryd and Agüero turn out to share a secret: They killed their own fathers (or did they?) and Shute revealed that she is the vessel for Rainbow Phoenix, Nostalgio said he loved someone once. In return they learned that the secret collector already has cards – they know who it is, and that Edryd holds a secret he doesn’t even know. Lastly a cryptic clue “Sometimes a bridge is not what it seems.”

The final nymph revelation is “The one you are looking for is in danger – she is that way!” while pointing in the direction that would indicate the ruined bell tower they saw from above.

They run as quickly as possible…

… just as Analastra falls to a pair of displacer beasts!

Battle is engaged! These creatures are hard to see, and even harder to hit.

Fortunately, spells that surround the target with fire or ice show where these cats are not leveling the playing field.

A few Stirge try to feast on Analastra during the battle, but are driven back by the mage teleporting her body away from the bloodsuckers.

After defeating and skinning the Displacer Beasts, they heal Analastra enough to travel and taker her back to the font for everyone to rest and recuperate.

Though Berrian is happy to have his sister back, and now trusts Florynsael’s intentions, he’s distrustful of humans, period. “Short life spans makes them impatient and greedy. How do I know these grounds, planted by Zandrian himself, won’t just be seized by them after we help drive off the Orcs? If I had proof that my family has a claim to this grove, perhaps Lord Padraig would honor that.”

“There is a ruined groundskeeper’s hut at the edge of the grove – perhaps there is something there to support our claim? We haven’t looked because two Owlbears have moved in – as you know we won’t harm fey creatures in situations like these. Could you check it out and avoid harming the those gentile giants?”

Without a plan, just after dawn, they approach the cottage:

“Bard, you’re Fey and all about nature and stuff. What do you know about Owlbears?” shut asks. “All kinds of things – what do you want to know?”

Florynsael adds: “I can also create an illusionary one, it can even roar like the ones we fought.”

Edryd – “Go to the back of the house, where the tree has cracked open that corner – we’ll move outside smelling range.”

The owlbears, smelling, hearing, and seeing their dreaded enemies, high-tailed it out of the front door of the cottage….

… allowing them to search the hut – where they found their evidence.

Upon returning to the Font, Florynsael presents the documentation to Berrian, and called Lord Padraig via the speaker-box. Terms of mutual support were reached. Padraig: “Our combined forces are still not enough for a full frontal attack. We’ll need the advantage of having the old watchtower for observation and to defend the breach at the Feygrove. Irregulars – can you clean out the tower so we can use it?”